Decisions Decisions Decisions

Wow! I’m so moved by everyone’s incredible support over the past week. Its stunning how all my fans are rallying to offer support and help, and I’m really touched by all the amazing offers from friends to assist in my plight to get overseas for more surgery.

The great news is that Prof Taylor in Cape Town has been pouring over my scans for the last couple of days. Also, Mommy found an amazing surgeon at Harvard Medical School that’s also interested in my case. Last but not least there is Dr Rodesch in Paris at the Foch Hospital.

So my options are looking good, but we’re no closer to a decision, as botched surgery will leave me blind and paralysed from the waist down, whereas no surgery will probably result in my premature demise. As we’re facing such hectic decisions, we’ve opted for an early spring holiday to clear our minds, so I’m blogging from Umhlanga.

Let me get into my week, without further ado.

Monday was really a quiet day and pretty routine. Tuesday after school Mom and I went grocery shopping and I proceeded to entertain all the other shoppers at Pick ‘n Pay, by doing all my own shopping. In the late afternoon Mom and I went to see Dr Anthony and he had a special surprise for me – a brand new stethoscope! I was thrilled. Back home I checked everyone’s pulse.

I was very brave on Wednesday morning at school – I didn’t protest, I just went to my classroom and sat down to do my work. There was no music after school on so later in the afternoon we met Ryan and Claudi at Smudge where I managed to get green paint all over my face, and Mom’s!

A special surprise awaited me after school on Thursday – brand new DVDs! I got The Lorax, Horton Hears a Who and a box set of Thomas and Friends. I spent the rest of the day at home watching DVDs. So awesome!

A really special surprise awaited me on Friday – Mom announced we’re going on a beach holiday. Woot! I was thrilled. But first we had a session with Lauren and then Mom took me for a quick play at McDonalds. Back at home in the afternoon we met with the house sitter who would be looking after our animals while we were away, and then Granny arrived. I screamed in joy! We played up a storm in the evening and then it was one more sleep to the beach.

Saturday morning I woke up and immediately said “Mom, are we going to school and Daddy to work?”, Mom said “No, we’re going on holiday” to which I responded “Yay! Right now?”

Soon we were on the road, and I watched DVDs and played Angry Birds on the drive. Once we were closer to the sea, we competed to see who would see the sea first – I won! As we opened our doors at the Cabana Beach Lifestyle Resort a clown appeared and handed me my Sun Kids pack of goodies. So awesome!

We’d barely been to our room for five minutes and we were off to the beach. I didn’t waste any time starting to dig and make sand castles. The sea was even nice and warm.

First thing Sunday morning I played ‘hide and go seek’ with Granny in our room, and then we headed to the beach. I played, dug holes, waded in the sea, and we climbed on the rocks. As it started getting really hot on the beach, we opted to head up to the pool. Mom, Dad and I swam in the heated pool and had an awesome time.

Before long it was time for a team snooze. Afterwards we went back to the beach where Dad showed me how to fly his stunt kite. It was such fun – but also because the lines are so dangerous at high speeds I couldn’t fly it on my own. It was massive fun nevertheless.

Major excitement has swept the country as South Africa has achieved four medals at the Olympics – 3 gold and 1 silver. Not only did Chad le Clos snatch a gold off Michael Phelps, but Cameron van der Burgh also broke the World Record in the 100m breast stroke. Our third gold came from the lightweight four rowing team. The silver medal was won by le Clos, also for swimming.

Well that’s it for this week. I’ll keep you posted on my condition.

Love,

Jarrod

Video 1 – Jarrod Being a Turtle (click here)

Photo 1 Making breakfast

Photo 2 Heading to the beach!

Photo 3 Yay! The beach

Photo 4 So good to be back

Photo 5 Ooooo, beach sand

Photo 6 Having a good roll around

Photo 7 Stretch

Photo 8 Waves are coming

Photo 9 Sand castle time

Photo 10 Bashing it down

Photo 11 Bat and ball time

Photo 12 Loving it

Photo 13 Dad being umpire

Photo 14 Getting sand off my feet

Photo 15 Hide and seek with Granny

Photo 16 Another hiding place

Photo 17 Phoning Tammy

Photo 18 Playing with Mom

Photo 19 Trying to escape the sea

Photo 20 Made it!

Photo 21 Need.to.get.higher.

Photo 22 Wave skipping

Photo 23 Running with Granny

Photo 24 Loving the beach

Photo 25 Dashing from Mom

Photo 26 Swimming with Mom

Photo 27 Time to get out

Photo 28 Kiting with Dad

Photo 29 Into a dive

Photo 30 Awesome

Photo 31 Whoowhoo

Photo 32 Special Daddy moment

Photo 33 ‘Til next week